Immortal Girl
by Meshakhad
Summary: A new student arrives at Sunnydale High, but something about her bothers Buffy. She investigates, and learns of the girl's strange past... and incredible power. BuffyXHeroes crossover, starts during Season 1 of BtVS and Season 2 of Heroes.
1. New Girl

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the property of Joss Whedon. Heroes is the property of Tim Kring.

One thing to clarify: for the purposes of this story, I am pushing all dates in the Buffyverse storyline ahead by 10 years. Buffy was born in 1991, and came to Sunnydale in 2007. This story begins sometime after "The Pack" but before "Angel".

* * *

"The circumcircle is one drawn around the outside of a triangle…" Willow read from her geometry textbook. Xander moaned in frustration.

"Xander, c'mon! You need to know this if you want to pass the test tomorrow."

Xander sighed. "Fine. OK, the orthocenter is the –"

"Hey, guys!" Buffy said as she came in. She regarded Willow and Xander's expressions. "This doesn't look good."

"Xander seems to be having difficulty with certain elements of geometry," Giles explained.

"He's not the only one," Buffy said. "I have no idea how I'm going to pass the test tomorrow. Didn't we have one last week?"

"Last month," Willow clarified.

"Hey, at least you didn't miss two days of material due to hyena possession," Xander added.

Their discussion was broken by the entry of a blond girl Buffy had never seen before.

"Mr. Giles?" she asked. "I'm Claire Butler – I just transferred in. I need to get my textbooks."

"Ah, the, uh, vice-principal gave us the heads-up. You're a junior, right?"

"Yeah," Claire nodded.

"Do you have your schedule?"

Claire handed Giles a slip of paper. Giles disappeared into the stacks. Claire looked around nervously at the others. Buffy decided to break the silence.

"Hi. I'm Buffy," she extended her hand. Claire took it, and gave a firm handshake. After Xander and Willow introduced themselves, Buffy tried small talk.

"So, where did you transfer from?"

"Oh, uh, Odessa, Texas."

"Texas? Why did you come all the way out here, then?" Xander pressed.

Claire didn't answer. In fact, she drew back, slightly.

Before anyone could ask another question, Giles returned with a stack of textbooks.

"Here you go, Claire." Buffy scanned the titles. She wasn't surprised to find only one match: biology.

"Well, see you guys around." Claire took off.

* * *

"Something is not right about her," Buffy paced. "I mean, when we asked about why she left Texas, she looked like she was about to bolt."

"Buffy, she could have a perfectly normal reason for hiding her past," chided Giles.

"Yeah, like what?"

Silence. "Good point."

Xander piped up. "So, what do we do?"

"I could look into schools in Odessa, see if I can find her records."

A light bulb seemed to go off in Giles' head. "I may be able to save you some time there. See, whenever a student transfers in, they have to bring their transcript with them. I could get Claire's. It might at least tell us where she went." He began to leave.

"Well, what do we do until then?" Xander asked.

Giles looked back at Xander. "Go to class, have lunch, study your geometry."

Later that afternoon, Buffy returned to the library to find Willow staring intently at her computer screen.

"Any luck?"

"Not much. Claire's records say she went to Union Wells High School, but there's no record of her attending."

"Huh?"

"I checked three times. Claire Butler never went to Union Wells."

"That's weird." She cocked her head to one side. "Giles, any ideas?"

"Well, I'd say that either her records were erased from the Union Wells database…" he picked up her official transcript, "or this is a forgery."

"Maybe she changed her name?" suggested Buffy.

"Hmm. I'll check the list of students with her same GPA." Willow clicked a few times, then found their entire directory, with GPAs included.

"She was running a 3.3…" Buffy's eyes settled on the name, "Bennet, Claire. Junior. GPA 3.3."

"Check Claire _Bennet_'s profile."

A few seconds later, a student profile came on the screen. The picture wasn't the same as the one in Claire Butler's transcript, but it was of the same person.

"Go deep, Willow," Buffy said. "Find out everything you can about this Claire Bennet."

"Where are you going?"

"Biology."

* * *

Biology class was, as usual, boring. Fortunately, Claire was in the same period as Buffy and Xander – not unusual for people in different grades, given how Sunnydale High's science curriculum worked. So Buffy spent the period surreptitiously studying Claire.

Claire sat near the back, deliberately avoiding sitting next to anyone. She seemed to be paying a lot of attention, and took plenty of notes. But she never once raised her hand to answer a question. A couple times, it seemed like she was about to, but decided against it. When the bell rang, Claire was very quick to leave. Buffy tried to catch up with her, but lost her in the crowd.

Buffy's final class was gym. She dominated a game of basketball, but didn't see Claire there – presumably, she had it some other time. After changing out of her gym clothes, she returned to the library. Xander was close behind her.

"So, what did you find?" she asked Willow and Giles.

"Well, it seems that Claire's actual record at Union Wells was slightly more… colorful… than the one she provided us," Giles leaned over Willow's shoulder.

"Troublemaker?"

"No, actually. But there are four things – aside from her last name – that were not included in the forged transcript."

"One: she was a cheerleader."

"Cheerleading? That isn't suspicious at all… so why cover it up?"

"Our thoughts exactly," Giles nodded. "The second thing is a car accident she was in – with the school's star quarterback, Brody Mitchum. She was absent for a day – but he was out for two weeks."

"I checked the hospital records," Willow piped up, "and there's a huge discrepancy in their injuries. She suffered only minor injuries, while he was crippled, and suffered total amnesia."

"The third thing," Giles continued, "that wasn't mentioned was a tragedy that happened on homecoming night. A mysterious man attacked Claire and another cheerleader named Jackie Wilcox. Claire escaped with her life. Jackie was… less fortunate." Giles made a face normally reserved for a horrific supernatural incident.

"What happened to her?" Xander asked.

Giles removed his glasses. "Her skull was cut open, and the top removed."

Xander's eyes went wide.

"Know of anything that kills like that?" Buffy asked.

"Actually, it's not uncommon – a number of demons that feed on human brains often use this method. Jackie's brain wasn't removed, but the police report indicates that the assailant was interrupted."

Giles replaced his glasses, and continued reading.

"The fourth thing that didn't match was her attendance record at the end of school. It corresponds to an incident where the Bennets' house burned down. After that incident, Claire didn't show up at school. Two weeks later, her father contacted the school to let them know that Claire was dropping out. That's the last record of her."

"Also," Willow said. "I checked the date where she officially dropped out. November 10. Four months ago. And one more thing."

"What is it?" Xander asked.

"I checked up on her family. As far as I can tell, the entire Bennet family dropped off the face of the Earth on November 10, 2007. Her brother had a fairly ordinary record, but he stopped showing up after that fire. They resurfaced a week ago, here in Sunnydale, calling themselves the Butlers."

Xander got up and started pacing. "This is too weird. What was this family involved in?"

"I don't know. I'm thinking of doing some research on the dad over the weekend."

"That might be a good idea," said Giles. "Meanwhile, I'll read up on demons that eat brains, see if I can figure out what killed Claire's friend."

"And why it spared her."

* * *

That evening, Buffy went down to the Bronze. Unfortunately, she heard an all-too-familiar sound from around the corner – that of screaming and whimpering.

The Bronze was possibly the one location in Sunnydale that was dangerous for both humans and vampires. Vampires often came here to prey on the innocent humans – typically by seducing their target, then leading them away before feeding. But since Buffy also liked to come here, that made it dangerous for the vamps. Normally, she arrived just in time to save the human, and slay the vampire.

But as she rounded the corner, stake in hand, she saw that tonight, she was too late. An Asian vampire wearing a Nirvana T-shirt dropped a blonde girl to the ground. Buffy recognized her as Claire. It felt strange – she had only met Claire earlier that day, and then discovered that she had a secret past of some kind. And now she was dead.

But no matter what secrets Claire might have held, Buffy still had a job to do. She began by punching him in the face. The vamp fought back, kicking Buffy in the gut. They fought for a minute, but it was no real contest. Soon, Buffy drove her stake into his heart, and he turned to dust.

Now for the part she hated – getting rid of the body.

Wait a minute, where was it?

Buffy looked around. But no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't find Claire Bennet's body!

It was gone!


	2. Risen

I'm not going to say how the Buffy storyline will be affected by this intrusion from Heroes, but I _will_ say how it will be affected by the time hop. The big changes will be tech-related – cellphones will be more common, for one thing. Giles will not _like_ computers, but he will be computer-literate. And expect to see a few tech-savvy vampires.

Apart from that, the events of all Buffy episodes prior to "Angel" and the whole of Heroes Season One are canon for this story.

* * *

Giles was interrupted from his reading when Buffy burst into the library.

"Buffy, what is it?"

"It's Claire."

"You found something?"

"No, she got killed by a vampire."

Giles was taken aback by this. "When did this happen?"

"Just a few minutes ago, outside the Bronze. She was already drained when I arrived, but that's not all. After I killed the vampire, I looked around for the body, and it was gone!"

Stunned silence followed.

"Is it possible for a vampire to rise almost immediately after being killed?" she asked.

"Yes – it's rare, and normally only happens with a particularly powerful sire, but it can occur." Giles took a breath.

"This vampire wasn't particularly powerful – I killed him in about a minute."

"Hmm." More silence, broken this time by Willow's arrival.

"Hey, you won't believe what I found… what happened?"

"Claire got killed by a vampire, and her body's gone. She must have risen immediately."

"Oh." Willow's expression dropped.

"Anyway, I did some digging into the Bennets' past, focusing on the parents." She opened her laptop.

"Her mother, Sandra, bred showdogs for a living – their family's Pomeranian, Mr. Muggles, had won a number of awards. I checked the state pet registry, and there's a Pomeranian named "Mr. Muggles" registered to the Butlers."

"But the most interesting person is Claire's father, Noah. He works at the Copy Kingdom here in Sunnydale, but in Odessa, he was regional manager for Primatech Paper Company, one of the biggest paper manufacturers in the country."

"A paper company?" Buffy asked. "Hardly suspicious."

"Yeah, but when I tried to access their internal records, I hit a brick wall. They've got really tough computer security – stronger than many government agencies in California."

"Why would a paper company need such strong security?" Giles mused.

"Did you find anything on them, or on Noah Bennet?"

"Just two things. One, Primatech got raided by the FBI in October, apparently in connection with the incident at Claire's homecoming. They didn't find anything, but it's rather suspicious."

"Two, Bennet's employment with Primatech was terminated a few days after the fire at their house."

"I thought you said that you couldn't get into their records?" Buffy said.

"They had a press release. No reason was given."

"Well," Giles said, "this is all very interesting, but I think we should be more concerned with the fact that Claire is now a vampire."

"Right. Where do you think she'd go?"

"Someplace familiar. Since she's had no contact with the other vampires, and presumably doesn't know where their meeting place is, I'd say she'd go home."

The consequences slowly dawned on Buffy. "I need to get there, before she does anything."

* * *

Buffy crouched behind some bushes outside the Butler house. She gripped a sharp stake in her hand.

She wasn't sure what to do. She had seen Claire's family inside, so they were still alive. Perhaps Claire would act as if nothing was up, and then kill them as they slept. Vampires were created with an innate knowledge of what they were, so there was no way the Butlers would survive the night.

She saw the door open. It was Claire, walking her dog. This would be quick – Buffy would jump Claire when she got near the bushes, stake her, and be gone. The Butlers would miss their daughter, but they would be spared the truth that she had become a demon.

The dog – Mr. Muggles, if Buffy recalled correctly – led Claire over to the bush where Buffy was hiding. He barked, but Buffy kept still. Clare came closer, probably just curious.

Buffy's body coiled like a spring.

Mr. Muggles cocked his leg, and Claire turned away.

Buffy pounced. She knocked Claire down, but Claire was quick, and narrowly dodged the first blow.

"Dad!" she called out.

_Great._ Buffy had to finish this _now_. Fortunately, Claire would have no idea that Buffy was a Slayer. Buffy rammed Claire with her full weight, and pinned her to the ground. Claire's screaming was cut short as Buffy drove a stake into her heart.

Buffy felt something big knock the wind out of her. The next thing she knew, she was on her back, staring into the face of Noah Butler. His expression was one of rage.

The Slayer code forbade Buffy from taking a human life. But she was free to defend herself if she had to. She kicked him back and sprung to her feet in one fluid motion. She turned to run, but found herself on the ground again as Butler tripped her. Buffy got up, but she saw something rather unexpected.

A most definitely non-dusted Claire stood up, and pulled the stake from her heart. As she did, the wound closed, leaving only a hole in her shirt.

While Buffy stood there in shock, Butler took the opportunity to clock her.


	3. Indestructible

I had originally planned for a longer fight scene at the end of the previous chapter, but it didn't work out – Buffy would be trying to escape, preferably before HRG figured out who she was.

Also, there was a bit of a mess with the previous upload – I was trying to submit a modified version of chapter 1.

* * *

When Buffy came to, she was tied up in a chair. She looked around and saw that she was inside the Butler house. Claire and her father were sitting on a couch facing her. Mr. Butler pointing a gun directly at her.

"Glad to see you're awake, Miss Summers," he said. "While you were unconscious, I looked up your school records. You have quite a colorful history, but nothing to explain why you would attack my daughter."

He leaned forward.

"So, why did you do it?"

Buffy was frightened. If she struggled, she could break the bonds, but there was no way it would be faster than Butler could pull the trigger.

As if to prove her thoughts, Butler leaned forward, and pressed the gun barrel against Buffy's forehead.

What could she tell him? What reason could Buffy give that he would believe? Worse, even if he believed her, he might kill her anyway.

There was only one way she might get out of this alive.

"I…" she began, hesitantly. Then, with confidence:

"I thought she was a vampire."

The expressions on their faces were predictable.

* * *

"Let me get this right. There are vampires, as in the kind that suck your blood, here in Sunnydale?" Butler asked.

"Not just here – all over the world. But there are a lot of them here."

"Why here? It's not like Sunnydale's a particularly big town."

"That's what I thought – but it turns out that this town is built atop a Hellmouth – a mystical portal of sorts. It attracts all kinds of supernatural creatures here, though vampires are among the worst."

"And what made you think I was a vampire?" Claire asked.

"I saw you get attacked outside the Bronze, and when I was done killing him, you were gone. I figured you must have risen immediately."

Butler turned to his daughter. "You got attacked? When were you planning on telling me."

Claire looked down. "Probably after I was done walking Mr. Muggles. I went outside so I could think for a minute and figure out what had happened."

"I see." He turned back to Buffy. "I have another question: why are you attacking vampires? I mean, if they exist, and they kill people, then I get that they have be fought, but what is a 16 year old girl doing fighting them?"

Buffy sighed. "I'm the Slayer."

"What's a slayer?" Butler asked.

"The Slayer is a girl chosen to fight vampires. There's only one. A new Slayer is only called after the previous one dies. I get superhuman strength and speed, improved fighting skills, prophetic dreams, and a really short life expectancy.

"How strong are you?" Butler asked.

"I can't lift cars, but I could probably break these bonds."

"Why don't you?"

"Because you're pointing a gun at me."

Butler looked at his gun.

"Maybe you should talk to Mr. Giles – my Watcher. He can explain his a lot better than I can."

"The librarian?" Claire asked.

"What's a Watcher?" Butler asked.

"Sort of my trainer. He's an expert on vampires, demons, all that stuff."

Butler leaned back.

"Can you call him now?"

"If you untie my hands." Claire did so. Buffy pulled out her cellphone, and dialed Giles' home number.

"Giles? It's Buffy. Look, can you come over to the Butlers' house?" Pause. "Yes, now. I have a gun pointed at my head, so please hurry."

* * *

Giles' explanation was not brief, but it was thorough. When he was done, Claire and Noah Butler – along with Mrs. Butler and Claire's brother, Lyle – were quite knowledgeable about vampires. Finally, Butler put down his gun.

"OK," Buffy got up, "now it's your turn to explain. How did Claire survive being staked? I mean, it's normally fatal for humans too."

Butler and Claire looked at one another.

"I'm indestructible," Claire said finally.

"Indestructible?"

"I can heal from any injury – even death."

"H-how is that possible?" Giles stuttered.

Mrs. Butler put her hand on Claire's shoulder. "Claire is special."

"Claire is one of many people who have extraordinary abilities," Butler explained. "I worked for a company that tracked these people. Claire was given to me as an assignment, but when they tried to take her, I couldn't let them."

"Is that why you left Texas and changed your name?" Buffy asked.

"Basically – wait, how do you know we changed our name?" Butler said, surprised.

"I'm pretty good at reading people, and I guessed something was wrong about Claire. So we did some digging, and we found Claire's actual records from Union Wells."

"That's pretty impressive."

"In that case, would it be alright if I called you Mr. Bennet?" Giles asked.

Bennet shook his head.

"Call me Noah."

* * *

After Giles gave the Bennets a rundown on self-defense against vampires, Buffy got up.

"Giles, call Willow and Xander, tell them what happened. I'd better get back on patrol."

"I'm coming with you!" Claire said.

"What?" everyone else said in unison.

"Absolutely not!" Noah declared. "Claire, I am not going to let you get hurt!"

"Dad, vampires can't hurt me. I found that out the hard way, and while being drained of every drop of my blood is not an experience I care to repeat, I can help Buffy."

"How? They can't kill you, but they're still stronger than you," Buffy admonished.

"I could be bait," Claire suggested.

"Bait?"

"Sure. You could hide until a vampire attacks me, then stake him while he's busy eating."

"That's… not a bad idea," Giles said.

"Claire…" Noah started, but Claire cut him off.

"Dad, I want to do this. I'll be helping people, saving lives."

"I thought you wanted a normal life," Lyle said.

Claire looked at her brother.

"You're right, Lyle. I want a normal life. I want to go to school, be a cheerleader, hang out with friends, maybe even date, and have nothing to worry about besides homework."

"But I have these powers. And the Company will be after me as long as I have powers and they have agents. We had to leave Texas, not just because the Company was after us, but because a radioactive man lost control and nearly took out half of Odessa in a mushroom cloud."

"When we came to Sunnydale, I was hoping to have a somewhat normal life. But even that was never going to happen – we have to keep a low profile so the Company doesn't find us here. I can't date, I can't do cheerleading, I can't even stand out in any way."

"But now we've found out about the vampires. They're a danger to others – and one I can help with. I want to use my powers for something good, let them help us for once rather than bring us harm. If I can't be a normal 17-year-old girl, then I can settle for being a hero!"

After what seemed like an eternity of silence, Noah finally said to Claire.

"OK."

"Thank you, Dad."

"I'll probably have her home around two," Buffy said. "I'll give you my cellphone number."

After exchanging phone numbers, Buffy and Claire went to the door.

"Buffy?" Noah called.

"Yes?"

"I'm counting on you to bring my daughter safely home."

"Don't worry. I've saved the world before, I can take care of Claire."

* * *

A/N: Again, I've decided to push ahead with the storyline instead of letting things develop slowly. Yes, having Claire end up allying with the Scoobies in the same day is a little implausible, but would you want to read several chapters of each side trying to figure the other side out? I didn't think so.

If you're wondering about the resubmit, many people noticed a major typo at the beginning, so I corrected it.


	4. Angel Part 1

Oscar crouched behind some bushes. This was what he loved about being a vampire – the hunt. And despite living for thirty years in Sunnydale, the people didn't seem to get any smarter about going out at night - which meant that the town was a virtual all-you-can-eat buffet for vampires like Oscar.

He spotted someone – a lone girl. She was pretty, blonde, about seventeen. Oscar smiled. Young blood was always the best. He shifted into his normal face before coming up to her.

"So, what's a nice girl like you doing out so late?" he asked.

"Waiting for someone," she said.

"Well," he circled her, "I could keep you company until they arrive." Behind her now, he vamped out.

"Maybe. Or maybe I'm waiting for –" she turned around, and saw Oscar. Her face took on a now familiar expression of sheer horror. She screamed, but it was too late. Oscar grabbed her, and bit down, hard, sucking up her blood as it poured from her neck.

Her blood was even more delicious than Oscar had imagined. He reveled in the taste, in the bloodlust. Day was a small price to pay for this kind of pleasure. And he would have it forever.

He was so caught up in the bloodlust, he didn't notice the wooden stake driving through his heart.

Claire was still a little woozy when Buffy caught her.

"Nice work," Buffy said.

"You know," Claire said, "we may want to try some alternate tactics. Something that doesn't involve me losing half my blood supply."

"This was your idea, remember? You wait around, the vamp bites you, I stake them. Over the past three days, it's netted us four vampires."

"Yeah, but I'm rethinking it. I guess I was in so much shock the first time I got bitten, I didn't realize exactly how unpleasant it is."

"Well, do you have anything in mind?"

Claire smiled. "I do."

"And what would that be?"

"Well, maybe I could train with you and Giles. Learn to fight vampires, not just be bait."

"OK, one, you don't have super strength. I can fight vampires because I'm as strong as they are. You aren't."

"True, but I can't die. If I get into a fight with a vampire, either the vampire dies, or he runs. He can't beat me."

"Two, I'm the Slayer."

"Well, I could be like… the Deputy Slayer. I'd help you out, even cover for you in a pinch."

"Cover for me?"

"Well, in case you get sick or injured or something. Especially since that really can't happen to me."

Buffy gave it some thought. It wouldn't be the first time she had fought with someone at her side – there was that week in Las Vegas with Pike. And unlike Pike, Claire couldn't get hurt, so Buffy wouldn't have to worry about her in the middle of battle.

In fact, she would be the perfect ally.

"OK."

Claire arrived at home a little earlier than normal – about 1:30 in the morning. She was not surprised to find her parents still awake.

"How was patrolling?" Noah inquired.

"Productive," Claire answered. "We killed two vampires."

"Is that… normal?" Sandra asked, her voice quivering. "The first two nights, you only got one per night."

"Buffy told me that one vampire a night is average, but two is nothing special."

"I see," Sandra said. "Well, you should probably get to bed."

"Just a moment, Sandra," Noah raised his hand. "I'd like to talk with Claire. Alone."

Sandra gave Claire a kiss before going upstairs. Noah came over to Claire, his expression neutral.

"What is it, Dad?" Claire asked.

"Claire, I've been thinking about this – you working with Buffy and Giles, fighting vampires. And while it isn't easy for me to live with the idea that you'll be fighting monsters on a regular basis, I have to remember that they aren't a threat to you."

"But there is something I'm going to have to insist on. Your mom and Lyle are probably better off the less they know, but I want to know everything."

"So when you get home every night, I want you to give me a summary of your patrol. I want to know how many vampires you killed, where you killed them, how you killed them. If Giles is Buffy's Watcher, then I guess I'm your Watcher."

This was new. "Why?"

"Claire, the last two nights, I've had nightmares about you and Buffy fighting horrible monsters. There's a lot I don't know. I know you can't die, but I don't know how strong vampires are. And while I know from Giles that Buffy is strong, I also know I was able to knock her out. The more you tell me, the better I'll probably feel."

Claire hadn't been sure how much to tell her parents about the slaying. She knew Buffy kept _her_ mother completely in the dark. That wasn't an option with Claire's parents, but her instincts were to tell them only what they needed to know.

Which, in her father's case, was apparently everything.

"OK, Dad."

"You said you killed two vampires, right?"

"That's right."

"Where did you kill them?"

"We got them both at the park. The first attacked me while I was sitting alone. Buffy staked him while he was feeding."

"And the second?"

Claire smiled. "Similar plan, only I staked him instead of Buffy."

"You staked him?" Noah raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah. Buffy and I were talking, and we're going to change how we work. Basically, I'm going to train with Buffy and Giles, do more than simply act as bait."

"About training…" Noah's tone of voice indicated a change in subject. "I assume you heard about the incident at football practice?"

"Yeah – one of the quarterbacks plowed right into Coach Green. Put him in the hospital." Claire was surprised Noah knew – she had found out from Buffy during their patrol. "How did you know?"

"Obviously, Coach Green's accident left a vacancy in the gym department – one the school wishes to fill as soon as possible. Well, I spoke with Giles, and Giles spoke with the vice-principal, and I have agreed to fill that position."

This news was quite a surprise. "You would… coach my gym class?"

Noah nodded. "I thought you should know. I start tomorrow."

_TWEEET!_

Noah's whistle brought the usual chatter that preceded gym class to a halt, and Claire's mood improved for the first time in hours.

It had not been a good day. Miss Peregrym had planned to show them a movie, but the VCR wasn't working, and most of the class had forgotten how to operate one, so English class was a bust. Precalc and Spanish had brought a pair of pop quizzes, and Biology had been even more boring than usual. By the time gym rolled around, Claire had a lot of excess energy to burn.

"Hello, everyone," Noah started. "My name is Noah Butler, and I am your new gym teacher."

Noah put everyone through their usual stretches. He then brought out a series of mats and laid them out on the floor.

"I'm going to be doing things a little differently than Coach Green. Starting today, we begin a new course – self-defense."

A lot of eyebrows shot up. Claire smiled. Maybe this day _wasn't_ doomed after all.

"I'm going to split you up into pairs. The first person I call, stand along the left side of the map. The second person I call, stand on the right facing your partner. Let me see…" His eyes scrolled down his list.

"Cordelia Chase?"

"Yes, Coach Butler?" Cordelia sprang to her feet, smiling. Claire did not like Cordelia. She was rather like Jackie, complete with the picking on Claire's friends. Claire very much hoped that she would get to face her on the mat.

"You'll be paired with Daniel Ozbourne."

Claire's mood sunk as Oz, the laid-back guitarist for the local band, "Dingoes Ate My Baby", got up to face Cordelia.

"Harmony Kendall?"

"Yes, Coach Butler?" Harmony sprang to her feet exactly the way Cordelia had. Claire truly detested Harmony, who was like Cordelia, only without any redeeming qualities (such as a functioning brain).

"You'll be going up against my daughter, Claire. Don't go easy on her."

Claire's mood was instantly restored. She got up to face Harmony on the mat.

"Is Daddy gonna come and help you out?" Harmony taunted.

"No, he'll just watch me kick your ass," Claire smiled.

After Noah finished assigning partners, he picked up his whistle.

"OK, the first thing I'm going to teach you is how to avoid being knocked down. Each person on the left should assume this stance." He demonstrated. "When I blow this whistle, I want the person on the right to charge their partner and try to knock them down."

Harmony got into a crude version of the stance.

"_TWEET!"_

Claire bowled her over.

The 90 minutes Claire spent in that gym learning how to fight – and, more to the point, using Harmony Kendall as her punching bag – went a long way to restoring her mood. By the time she was done, she was happily exhausted. She went home, did her homework, had dinner, then went to the Bronze.

When they arrived, the place was packed – not the norm for Wednesday night. Claire looked around for an explanation, and spotted a banner that read "Pre-Fumigation Party: find a cockroach, get a free drink!" She joined Buffy and Willow at a table, as they discussed Buffy's lack of a boyfriend.

"Well, what about Angel?" Willow asked.

"Angel?" asks Buffy. "I'd like to see him in a relationship. 'Hi, honey, you're in grave danger. I'll see you next month.'"

"He's not around much," Willow agreed.

"Who's Angel?" Claire asked.

"Oh, he's this older guy that shows up now and again to warn Buffy about vampires."

"Oh, that guy. Buffy told me about him." Claire turned to watch Xander make a fool of himself on the dance floor. After an encounter with Cordelia – who had fared better than Claire had expected against Oz – he came over to them.

"Well, that Cordelia's a regular breath of vile air. What are you vixens up to?"

"Just watching our barren lives pass us by," Willow sighed. Claire shared the sentiment.

"Whoa, well, let's stop this crazy whirligig of fun!" Xander said. "I'm dizzy."

"OK, now I'm infecting those nearest and dearest to me. I'm calling it a night."

"Bye!" Claire called as Buffy left.


End file.
